חולין 76:1 — Soncino English Talmud

MISHNAH. IF THE HIND LEGS OF AN ANIMAL WERE CUT OFF BELOW THE JOINT, IT IS PERMITTED; IF ABOVE THE JOINT, IT IS TREFAH. SO TOO IF THE JUNCTURE OF THE TENDONS WAS GONE, [IT IS TREFAH]. IF THE BONE WAS BROKEN BUT THE GREATER PART OF THE FLESH [AROUND THE FRACTURE] REMAINED, IT IS RENDERED CLEAN BY THE SLAUGHTERING; OTHERWISE IT IS NOT RENDERED CLEAN BY THE SLAUGHTERING. GEMARA. Rab Judah said in the name of Rab who reported it in the name of R. Hiyya, BELOW means below the joint, and ABOVE means above the joint, and the joint referred to is the joint which is sold together with the head. Ulla said in the name of R. Oshaia: It is that joint which is clearly distinguishable in the camel. Ulla said to Rab Judah, ‘According to me, holding as I do that it is that joint which is clearly distinguishable in the camel, it is right that the Mishnah also states: SO, TOO, IF THE JUNCTURE OF THE TENDONS WAS GONE. But according to you, why does it state, SO, TOO, IF THE JUNCTURE OF THE TENDONS WAS GONE?’ — He replied: ‘[It teaches that the animal is trefah] whether the bone was gone and the juncture of the tendons remained, or the juncture of the tendons was gone and the bone remained’. ‘But the Mishnah expressly states WERE CUT OFF’? — He [Rab Judah] was silent [and did not reply]. But when he [Ulla] had left, Rab Judah said to himself, ‘Why did I not answer him thus: BELOW means below the joint, but ABOVE means above the juncture of the tendons?’ Later he said: ‘And did I not suggest an answer to him? but he retorted that the Mishnah expressly states: WERE CUT OFF. Then to this suggestion, too, [he would have retorted, that] the Mishnah expressly states: ABOVE THE JOINT. R. Papa reported the passage thus: Rab Judah said in the name of Rab who reported it in the name of R. Hiyya, BELOW means below the joint and the juncture of the tendons, and ABOVE means above the joint and the juncture of the tendons. So, too, if the juncture of the tendons was gone [it is trefah]; and the actual joint meant is that [which was referred to in the statement] of Ulla in the name of R. Oshaia. But is it possible to conceive of such a case, namely, that if the limb were cut off higher up the animal would live [and it would be permitted], and if it were cut off lower down the animal would die? — R. Ashi retorted: Are you comparing defects with one other? Amongst the various defects we do not say that this resembles that; for one may cut the animal in one place and it will die and in another place and it will live. And this is the extent of the juncture of the tendons — Rabbah said in the name of R. Ashi, That part with is off the bone. Rabbah son of R. Huna said in the name of R. Ashi: That part which is on the bone. Raba the son of Rabbah son of R. Huna said in the name of R. Assi: That part which is above the heel. A certain Rabbi was sitting before R. Abba and recited: It is that part which is on the heel; whereupon R. Abba said: Pay no attention to him, for thus said Rab Judah: It is that part which the butchers strike; and this corresponds with the view reported by Raba the son of Rabbah son of R. Huna in the name of Rab Judah. Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: The juncture of the tendons of which the Rabbis spoke, is the place where the tendons converge. And how far does it extend? — A certain Rabbi, whose name was R. Jacob, said: When I was at the school of Rab Judah, he said to us: Accept from me the following ruling which I heard from a great man, that is Samuel, viz., The juncture of the tendons of which they spoke is the place where the tendons converge, and it extends from the place where the tendons converge up to the place where they part. How much is this? — Abaye said: Four finger-breadths in an ox. What is the extent in small cattle? — Abaye said: Where the tendons bulge it is part of the juncture, but not where they are sunken in; where they are hard it is part of the juncture but not where they are soft; where they are large it is part of the juncture but not where they are small; where they are white it is part of the juncture but not where they are not white.^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ

^ᵃnote:Lit., ‘from the joint downward’. V. Gemara.
^ᵇnote:Lit., ‘from the joint upward’.
^ᶜnote:I.e., the Achilles Tendon, the name given to the aggregated tendons in the distal part of the tibia. V. Gemara.
^ᵈnote:And is even permitted to be eaten.
^ᵉnote:The term vcufrt used in the Mishnah means ‘joint’, there is however a difference of opinion in the Gemara as to which joint is intended. It must be remembered that the hind limb is made up of four divisions of bones. First there is the hip, the skeleton of which is formed by the innominate bones (,hkye); then the thigh, formed by the femur (lrh or ,hkue) and patella (vbuhkgv vcufrt the knee-joint); then the leg, formed by the tibia (eua) and the fibula (in the ox it is very rudimentary and is represented by a fibrous cord only); and finally the hind foot which corresponds to the human foot and consists of the tarsus (atrv og ,rfnbv vcufrt), metatarsus and four digits. The tendons of the muscles behind the tibia are combined into one, termed the ‘Achilles Tendon’, and are attached to the heel or tuber calcis; this is what is meant by ‘the juncture of the tendons’ or ihshdv ,num. According to Rab Judah the vcufrt of our Mishnah is the hind foot, all that part below the tarsus, which is usually sold with the head as offal; v. Diagram at end of Tractate.
^ᶠnote:V. Bek. 42a. The joint referred to is the patella or knee-joint which lies between the lower extremity of the femur and the upper extremity of the tibia, and not, as Rab Judah says, the tarsus.
^ᵍnote:Although we are taught that if the leg was cut off below the knee-joint it is permitted, nevertheless if the juncture of the tendons was gone, which is below the knee-joint, it is trefah.
^ʰnote:For if the leg was cut off at any point above the tarsus it is trefah, it is certainly so if cut at the juncture of the tendons, which is above the tarsus.
^ⁱnote:Which obviously means that that part of the limb was absolutely severed, and the bone and the tendons were gone.
^ʲnote:And so it was also necessary for the Mishnah to teach the law if the leg was cut at the juncture of the tendons.
^ᵏnote:Which means immediately above the joint and not above the juncture of the tendons.
^ˡnote:I.e., the knee-joint. And the law according to Rab Judah is this: If the leg was cut off at any point below the knee-joint and the tibia, which includes the juncture of the tendons, the animal is permitted; if cut off at any point above the knee-joint, i.e., in the femur, it is trefah. In the tibia it would be trefah only if the leg was cut off at the juncture of the tendons, but if cut off at any point in the tibia above this juncture it would be permitted. Accordingly Rab Judah is in agreement with Ulla's view.
^ᵐnote:This position is most illogical.
^ⁿnote:In MS.M., ‘R. Assi’.
^ᵒnote:The aggregated tendons of the leg are at their lower extremity attached to the tuber calcis (tnuerg or heel bone), they run upwards along the leg, first adhering to the tibia for a short distance and then separating from the bone and expanding into the muscles of the leg. According to Rabbah the most vital part of the juncture is from the point where it separates from the bone until it expands into the leg muscles. V. Diagram at end of Tractate.
^ᵖnote:I.e., where it adheres to the tibia. According to Asheri the extent here meant is the whole of the distance that it adheres to the tibia and further also until it expands into the leg muscles.
^ᵠnote:I.e., from the tuber calcis up to the point where it expands. This is the greatest extent of all.
^ʳnote:When commencing to flay the animal, or when about to porge the meat; it is immediately above the tuber calcis.
^ˢnote:This amud contains no footnotes.